A Boy Named Seo

Hoch gets a different quote with a different tone from Willie after Matsui's HR: ]"Anytime you go deep on a pitcher in early BP like this, you've got to tip your hat to them, because those guys are way ahead of us."

Is "Phenom-enal" necessary? That's like a play on words that's not really a play on words.

Sorry, habit.

Pedro and Lima-Time clearly trying to help Willie change his mind on the no-facial hair thing.

That Globe article said he was 27, and it was run September 13, 2005. In the five months since, poor Michel has aged 4 heavy years, as the Post sez he's 31. At that rate, he'll catch Julio Franco by the start of next season!

Yikes. Anyone looked at their official site lately (ever)? They're motto for this year is "Rebuilding the Dream". Rebuilding implies that the dream at one time was completely assembled, I thought. Even better, though, is the logo: a tattered, yellow, square road sign with the "TB" logo and the phrase "Under Construction" scribbled underneath. Nothing says optimism like a sullied "Under Construction" roadsign. Go Rays!

Dynamite stuff, man. You presented the transitional team angle quite well. I never really knew the circumstances behind the Seaver lotto. Did the Braves even know it was a violation? I wonder if they tried to appeal the ruling or anything. They must've been rather pissed when a lottery was decided. It sounds like they did nothing shady in the least. Just dumb freaking luck. Again, nice work.

So he's 3 HR shy of 400, 23 runs shy of 1000, 81 hits shy of 2000, all doable this year. Wonder if he hits these, stays above .300, and checks out? I'm betting he does and I'm rooting for him.

I'm kinda psyched about this silly tournament and wanna check out an Anaheim game or two.

Ray Liotta who? Ray Liotta you! Nice work, JD.

Wifey Watch alert! Pedro apparently secretly wed this offseason to a journo named Carolina Cruz! Initial searches point to the lovely lady clad in mauve(?) as the new Mrs. Martinez. Edit: Even bettah. And she works for ESPN Deportes. Nice catch, Pedro. And nice catch, Carolina.

Newsday's got it on their site NOW!!! and it features David Wright with Mrs. Padilla, Heilman, and Woodward. Score for Wifey Watch if someone wants to rip it and create some stills.

I thought Shawon Dunston was. Bonilla, too, maybe?

Bobby Esta-lay-'ya courtesy of Outsports. No kidding. (Cue the "Blue Oyster" tango...)

How 'bout Mr. Koo getting invited back to the party? I liked that crazy bastard. Not much room for him, though. It seems like if we did find a Roberto Hernandez among the bunch, the only real bullpen spot that's not guaranteed is Padilla's. Duaner may have options, I guess. Dunno. Bobby Estalella used to be a Mr. Universe-looking monster who couldn't really hit too much. He always made me think steroids before my brain was programmed to think steroids all the time. Aaron Hathaway for some reason I remember from last year's draft. He was a senior catcher out of Univ. of Washington, but I don't remember another thing about him.

Seeing Piazza and Molina both without employment with pitchers and catchers just a few weeks away made me want to check out the "Catcher 2006" thread again. Can't fault Omar for striking quickly on Delgado or Wagner, but looking at the timeline of events as far as catchers go, the LoDuca choice looks even more peculiar to me as a little time's passed. I think everybody seemed to agree that he got impatient with Molina and Hernandez both, but there never seemed to be a report of a Met offer to ether actually being rejected. Was there? I didn't see one in the thread and I don't specifically remember that happening. Of the handful of catchers available, LoDuca ended up being the first domino to fall. What irks me most, I guess, is now hearing rumors of Piazza and a few mils for one year, and the Dodgers and Blue Jays offering a single year to Benji, as well. Here's the timeline as it looked to me in the thread. Nov 1 - Mets contact Molina's agent Nov 11 - Mets meet agents for both Molina and Hernandez Nov 21 - LoDuca's name comes up for the first time Nov 22 - LoDuca's talked about again and so is Toby Hall. Seo and Anderson Herndandez's names are mentioned. Nov 25 - Omar offers similar contracts to Benji and Hernandez Nov 28 - Toby Hall's name mentioned again Dec 4- Mets trade for LoDuca Dec 7 - Estrada traded to AZ for 2 pitchers Dec 8 - Hernandez signs 4/27 with Baltimore Omar's made a couple of strange trades, but looking back, this one weirds me out the most. Did he overestimate the number of suitors for these guys? Get impatient at the inactivity? Just have an itchy trigger finger? All of the above? Who and what?

Hey, cool, JD. Good luck. You going to present it here when you're done presenting it there?

Bradford's Photochop isn't much better than Schmoll's.

I voted no opinion, but really indifferent would've been more appropriate. I think under the criteria stated, that makes me a weenie, but trading a mediocre pitcher for a reliever who's pitched crappy, but has potential, and a 24-year old prospect who is major league ready doesn't seem like such a huge freaking catastrophe. Benson's hole is already filled by someone who should be able to match his 175 IP and ERA over 4, and may even perform better than that. Julio may turn out to be a wonderful set-up man and if he doesn't, the Mets have a crapload of other relievers to turn to. John Maine looks like a fine, major league ready prospect. Whatever. And isn't waiting until 5 years later, when there's actually some data to examine, the better way to evaluate a trade anyway then getting all charged up and saying that a person who plays this position getting traded for a player who plays this position is an automatic hate?

I think the "love" vote was registered by our newest member "Two-bit Jorge".

Love the story idea, Bret. What about a player who is such a kinky bastard, so sexually deviant, that he freaks her the hell out? Get to work on it NOW!!!

...will naturally come second to what's best for me." Felipe thinks batting Bonds second might help get his slugger a few more AB's. Alou admits, "Of course, I'd have to run it by Barry," and Barry quickly nixes the idea stating, "I am going to speak with Felipe, because at this point in my career it doesn't work for me to be the second bat". Kudos to Felipe for the progressive thinking; trying to get Bonds more times up, which will result in Bonds on base more, which will presumably result in more runs for the San Francisco Giants and maybe a few more wins, too. Is Bonds such a legend that he no longer has to obey the manager's wishes? If "the kids", Alou and Finley, are the only other guys that can drive in a run, might as well have them bat behind you, no?

Or John "Don't Call Me Brent" Maine. Or John "Bangor" Maine. Or John Maine Vein. Or John "Inhu"Maine. Or John...

]I think the love/like/neutral/dislike/hate polling format is more clear. Yeah, I agree. Sorry for the odd choices. I tried to fuse a little humor into the thing is all. And after I submitted it, I realized I had no "neutral" opinion and went to edit one in, but that didn't seem to work. ]Two and four seem like very similar choices. Two was supposed to be the "no" vote, and four was supposed to be "I'm not worried about the trade, I'm worried about Omar!" Both voicing dissatisfaction, but one at the new personnel specifically, the other at the guy who engineered the trade. I see how that's not all that clear, though. ]isn't this the second time this offseason that some poor misguided poster has tried to give someone the nickname "the duke"...there only one duke in ny, find your own nickname john maine... I'm the poor, misguided poster. And I like calling John Maine "The Duke" and will keep doing it until I don't feel like doing it anymore.

Seems to be lots of angry peeps in the other thread. Like to see what everyone else thinks. Yah, nay, or gay? Sound off.